Chapter 74: Chapter 73: Smash them all with one punch each.
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Although there was really no choice at the time, he had indeed deceived Miao. He planned to come clean to Miao after he secured the position of Deputy Director of the Event Bureau.
He wanted the position so badly.
It had almost become a burden on his heart.
Initially, he was one of the strong candidates for the position. His wife was also very happy, because the deputy director's position depended not on behind-the-scenes connections, but on genuine ability, and he had a good chance of securing it.
Only...
On the day of the election, he received news that someone had kidnapped his wife and would release her the next day; if he dared to participate in the Secret Realm competition, they would kill her.
After sitting in the dark study for a long time in silence,
he chose to abstain.
The other party also kept their promise, perhaps also fearing the madness of a 19th-level supernatural being; he wasn't at 21st-level yet. He and his wife held each other and watched the news on TV congratulating the new deputy director. They remained silent.
Just continually patting each other's back.
As if comforting something.
The position of Deputy Director at the Events Bureau required breaking the local record. If no one could break the record, the position would remain vacant, to be filled by a deputy director sent directly from Jingjiu City.
This was a long-standing ironclad rule of the Federation.
No matter how you got there, you at least needed a certain level of strength, as the Federation tried to prevent power landing in the hands of the unscrupulous at such a vital position within the city's lifeline.
Corruption within the Events Bureau meant that when a special event broke out, there would be no one to protect the city.
There was even the possibility of a city massacre.
This had happened once before, and the rule was established afterward.
...
Zhou Shen, lost in thought, looked towards the distant boss and vaguely remembered his wife's words.
"A person," she said, "shouldn't be too good or too evil in this life."
"What's to fear is someone who is neither too good nor too evil, not quite a good person but also a bit pretentious to be called a bad one. Such people will live a twisted and painful life."
"And the people around them will suffer as well."
He thought back to when he first joined the bureau, raising his fist in an oath in front of the Federation flag.
He remembered the surge of emotion when he first joined.
He wanted to eradicate the chaos in Fengtian City.
He thought of the smile on his still-alive parents' faces and the fresh, young woman he had just met, who would become his wife.
Only... how did it all come to this?
Without realizing, a cigarette burned down to the end. Zhou Shen flicked the remains away, turned, and looking at Yuan Buping with a smile said, "We'll all be colleagues in the future. You and Miao have been in touch longer; please put in a good word for me in front of Miao."
While saying this, he subtly took an object from inside his jacket and slipped it into Yuan Buping's hand.
Yuan Buping was slightly startled and took a moment to react before also carefully pocketing the item and smiling back, "Certainly, certainly."
"Alright, back to work!"
Zhou Shen rose to his feet, stretching his limbs, then continued striding toward the nearby boss.
Don't underestimate me!
You damn bastards!
He roared internally with anger, flailing his fists to vent his rage. He didn't know whom he hated more, his own impotence, his feigned nobility, or perhaps the mysterious group that had kidnapped his wife years ago, causing him to lose the election, or maybe it was the world itself he resented.
But one thing he did know.
He had to climb up, step by step, and find the people from that year.
One fist for each, to crush them all.
To let everything revert to the essence of the Event: survival of the fittest.
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...
Meanwhile, Chen Miao had smoothly arrived at the 27th floor of the Secret Realm Building.
There were quite a few people.
Probably a few hundred were gathered here, discussing something, with a huge ranking leaderboard displayed in the center of the screen, capturing the top 100. This was the Fengtian City Combat Power ranking.
Doctor Gou's combat power figure was 4700.
This value wasn't absolute; some who held back in the combat evaluation secret realm had lower power figures, while others who went all out in the power realm naturally had higher figures.
After all, there were plenty who hid their true capabilities.
"Secret Realm Name": Combat Power Evaluation (10).
"Secret Realm Level": None.
"Secret Realm Effect": This secret realm is a true simulation virtual realm; players can test their exact combat power values here. In this realm, the uses of consumed items or some skills with major side effects will all automatically revert to their original state upon leaving the realm.
"Secret Realm Restrictions": None.
"Secret Realm Introduction": The secret realm has no perfect clearance and does not count towards the clearances.
He chose the 10 combat power tier, which was the lowest one. After entering this secret realm, as long as he passed this tier, he would gradually ascend to the 50, 100, 300, 500, 1000, and so on.
He checked and saw that the combat power for a level 3 supernatural was typically around 160.
For some stronger combat-oriented supernaturals, like fighters, the figure could reach about 200.
But it wasn't much higher than that, that was the general range.
"Let's go," Chen Miao looked to Hungry Monkey at his side, "Let's go in and see. You should also check out how much combat power you have now."
"Sure."
Hungry Monkey was somewhat expectant as he swung his iron hammer. After killing the Grave Digger boss that day, he was actually interested in that giant mace, but damn, it turned out the mace was made of flesh and, along with the boss's corpse, disintegrated into pieces.
...
Accompanied by a flash of white light, Chen Miao arrived in a vast white space.
As soon as he landed,
He heard a mechanical voice next to his ear.
"First level."
Immediately after, he saw a skeleton monster holding a machete, shakily materialize and approach him, looking so fragile that he felt a kick would be enough to make it lie down on the ground, unable to get up.
He tentatively pulled out the "Python R6 Revolver" from his bosom and aimed a shot.
"Bang."
The gunshot sounded, and the Pockmarked Monster fell down as a result.
Soon, a crisp sound effect came to his ears, seemingly indicating that the first level had ended, while at the same time a screen popped up in midair with a line of text.
"Real-time Combat Power Evaluation —— 19."
And the second level arrived at the same time.
The second level was stronger, but not by much; it was now three skeleton monsters.
Chen Miao nodded thoughtfully, it seemed that the combat power was evaluated in real-time, but he wondered if by level ten or so, there would be a bunch of skeleton monsters.
There were two ways to exit the Combat Power Evaluation Secret Realm.
One was automatic exit, the other was fighting to the death.
The Combat Power Evaluation Secret Realm was virtual, so there was no need to worry about actual death; the evaluation would be based on combat power measured right before 'death' to determine the player's final combat power figure.
He pulled out the Thomson and swept with it again.
This time the combat power value reached "578," a significant improvement.
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